R. L. Clayton

I wrote my first short story in eighth grade. That story is buried somewhere in a stack of old tablets and notebooks somewhere. During the next fifty years, little got written for fun. As an engineer, most of my writing was technical – instruction manuals, reports, grant applications, etc. Six years ago, I changed careers from engineer to writer. It’s been great fun. My talent lies in ideas, including those for stories. Dreams play a large part of my story telling. Having little formal instruction in creative writing, I feel like a beginner typist, hunting and pecking my way through writing. I’ve been learning a lot from some great instructors.

Evolution River Series: Sea Species

Fantasy/Fiction

In the Southern Arizona desert a group of idealistic scientists, refugees from the Biosphere 2 project, have constructed an isolated community called Kihhim (Tohono O’Odham for the Village). Away from the prying eyes of the press, the public and government regulation, they built a society along the principles of Biosphere 2.

At the foot of Baboquivari Peak, the Tohono O’Odham legendary birthplace of the People, they are a space colony, yet on the Earth. To maintain an independent and almost closed ecosystem, genetically manipulated plants grown in their greenhouses have enhanced productivity.

When the body of Marty Hinson, a prominent environmentalist, is found on their property, they come under the very scrutiny they sought to avoid. Accusations are lodged, and they are investigated by the United States as isolationists with potentially harmful technology. Religious zealots and terrorist Ralph Whitney attack them for their biological technology and genetic abilities.

Kihhim flees the United States, leaving behind their leaders John Vance and Katherine Levey, imprisoned as subversives. They construct a giant catamaran of supertankers establishing Kahchk Kihhim (Tohono O’Odham for Sea Village), a floating nation. Security Supervisor, Leticia Gardner extorts recognition and protection from the United States by threatening the existence of humanity.

This marine civilization uses genetic engineering to adapt themselves to life at sea. The shield of protection established by the United States is breached, and prominent figures of both Kahchk Kihhim and the United States are killed.

The ensuing investigation reveals backing for the attack by a major world power, embroiling Kahchk Kihhim in global politics. The extent of their genetic engineering is revealed, and the major powers in the world realize the potential resource and the threat to humankind these people represent.

Kahchk Kihhim understands that once their extortion threat is nullified, they will be subjugated or destroyed. Under the leadership of Katherine Levey, they race ahead on a program to grow a new underwater habitat utilizing genetic engineering. The citizens of Ocealla, their new home, consist of humans, modified humans, modified dolphins, and a completely new genetic construct.

Evolution River Series: The Envoy

Fantasy/Fiction

The crew of a sail boat wrecked in a storm is rescued and finds themselves held by an alien civilization under the South Pacific. The Homakuwa city of Ocealla nurses Kent (Kit) Carson and his friends back to health, and then has to decide what to do with them. Established from the rogue nation of Nueva Pacifica of generations before, Ocealla was founded when the residents of Nueva Pacifica escaped as it was destroyed by an international agreement to protect mankind and the world order.

Peace and tolerance have come about with the rise of the United World Government and a new world religion led by a mystical man simply known as the Prophet. With Kit’s urging, the citizens of Homakuwa with their Collective mind decide to explore the possibility of rejoining the world community. Katherine Levey, the leader of Homakuwa, leaves Ocealla to meet with ex President Ron Carson, Kit’s great grandfather and the United States President during the time of Nueva Pacifica, to investigate the possibility of becoming known again. In the interim since Nueva Pacifica, the United States has been able to maintain a position of power by building the Orbiting Power System (OPS) and selling power to the world’s ever increasing appetite.

Katherine takes Ron to see Kit and they decide to rejoin the world. They apply to the United World Government for membership and the approval is not without concern. Not all world citizens are happy with the new world order. With the loss of power and control by the world’s major religions, Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism, and the autocratic governments such as China and North Korea a coalition, the Foundation, is formed and decides to disrupt the order to gain back control.

In a stunningly successful series of attacks, the Foundation strikes the United World Government. Before they are subdued, China is able to insert viruses into the central computer system that will give them eventual control.

The integration of Homakuwa proceeds, though their isolation from UWG monitoring systems is not viewed well. With their oceanographic expertise they begin directorship of the International Fishing Industry. Their genetic development ability allows them to gain the operating and maintenance contracts for the OPS, and they begin to build habitats with modified citizens designed for life in space. With power being the major impediment to China’s world dominance, they strike the computer system controlling the OPS and discredit Homakuwa’s ability to operate the system.

Despite not having the OPS contracts, Homakuwa continues to expand and build orbiting habitats and a Lunar colony. With the discovery of a meteor swarm heading toward Earth, Homakuwa and Earth send out interceptors to try to divert the most destructive objects. They are successful with those capable of destroying the Earth, but enough smaller ones get through that civilization is devastated. During the Impact Winter, most of the life on Earth is killed, and the surface survivors and Homakuwa combine to bring it back.​Homakuwa continues to expand in orbit with the construction of more habitats. They send a number of these to Mars to colonize it, and then expand throughout the Solar System.

Evolution River Series: The Genesis

Fantasy/Fiction

In The Genesis, the final volume in the Evolution River Series, humans and their descendants, the Homakuwans, struggle to rebuild after a string of meteorites destroy the ecology of the Earth causing massive extinctions. Using genetic technology, they accomplish in a century what nature does in millennia, and civilization is preserved, but almost 90% of the human population dies. They create machines to assist them that become a race of mechanical beings, Mechs. Conflict breaks out between the civilization of the United World Government and those outside of that control. The Homakuwans, learn that humanity must continue along the path that evolution has set them on, but they incorporate a novel solution to preserve the race that created them. The descendants of the descendants of humans expand their civilization into the Universe, where they grow and join the Universal Mind. New dimensions open up to them as they move beyond the physical, and they evolve again. The flow of evolution reaches it destination, and begins anew.​

Dead and Dead for Real

Horror/Fiction

Kiki Russell is the hottest sniper in the U. S. Army. She has been hurting the extremist so badly they have put a bounty on her head. When that fails to stop her, they send a team to the United States to murder her family. She returns to the U. S. and along with her friend from Afghanistan, Nick Sabino, they embark on a program to hunt down the killers. Using unconventional methods for interrogation, they move up the ladder from the actual killers to those behind this program of brutally slaying military dependents. Terror has come to the shores of the United States, and with the FBI and CIA, they capture and stop this campaign. During their interrogations, they encounter a new power, one beyond control and unstoppable. Caught in an intergovernmental struggle for power, Nick and Kiki become unwilling participants and their program of seek and destroy becomes one of escape and evade.​